The Cracking of Glen Canyon Dam
In 1981, Earth First! launched itself by unfurling a three-hundred foot plastic “crack” along the front of Glen Canyon Dam. Edward Abbey was the master of ceremonies.
Ken Sleight describes it: “Six Earth First!ers drove to a locked gate on an access road to Glen Canyon Dam. They hefted a 100-pound bundle over the fence, and four men and a woman carried it 400 yards to the center of the dam while some 75 Earth First!ers watched from the Colorado River Bridge. Throwing the bundle over the edge of the dam, 300 feet of black plastic — tapering from 12 feet to two feet in width and held together by 700 feet of rope and 1000 feet of duct tape — cascaded down the face of the dam. It created the wonderful impression of a crack growing in the concrete dam.”
Here’s a video of the event. (12.9Mbps, so give it a minute)
Oh, and I suppose this is copyrighted by someone. Not sure who…please write me if it’s you.
Categories: Community, Edward Abbey, Environment
Tags: adios
Comments: 3 Comments.
I woulda made a bigger crack, personally. Well on the bright side, people have a place to go water skiing now. It’s for the kids really.
Lake Foul may be doomed by global warming. All the straws in the river are drawing it down. Western draught is stopping it from being refilled. Too many people, too little water.
I have a VHS copy of this film, somewhere. Ya gotta love it. Crazy hippie earth-firsters. Bless them. The filmmaker was Christopher (Toby) McLeod. Check out this website for more info: http://www.sacredland.org/films.html